Debug/Run configurations

To debug, run, and profile an application, you must create a configuration that captures the settings for executing the application. The configurations for debugging, running, and profiling an application are similar; differences between them are explained below. To profile an application, you should create a Run configuration.

The following sections explain the concepts involved in debug/run configurations.

Configuration and executable name

You can provide an unique name for your configuration and select the application executable to use for execution. Select the appropriate executable for debug, run, and profile configurations. The configuration needs to be created only once for the first execution of the application. For subsequent execution of the application, you can select the configuration from the Debug/Run drop-down list in the toolbar.

XMD Target Connection

SDK communicates to the hardware or ISS using XMD. You can choose to execute the application on the hardware or ISS processor target. SDK provides only the appropriate options based on the processor architecture that the application was built for. Each communication target type is associated with a set of advanced options. Click Advanced Options to access the following options:

• Read-Only Memory - Specify the address range of Read-Only Memory (ROM) in the system using this option. ROM such as Flash memory can be mapped using this option, forcing the debugger to set hardware breakpoints or prevent memory write within this address range.
• PowerPC - The hardware resources in PowerPC® processors such as ICache, DCache, and DCR registers are not memory mapped (that is, they are not part of the System Address Map). To access these resources, you should map them to an unused memory in the system and then read and write to this memory. The dialog box assigns a default address range for these resources. Use this option to specify a custom address range for each resource.
• MicroBlaze XMDStub options - Use this option to specify the type of XMDStub configuration used for debugging and setting specific options related to each MicroBlaze™ processor configuration.
• PowerPC ISS Configuration File - The PowerPC processor ISS can be configured using a configuration file to capture details such as the processor memory map and cache. SDK provides a default configuration file in the installation area. Use this option to specify your custom configuration file.

Initialization

In the Initialization tab, you can select the following tasks, which should be performed before debugging the program.

• Reset - You can choose to reset the entire hardware system or the specific processor; or choose not to reset. Performing a reset ensures that there are no side effects from a previous debug session.
  • Perform a system reset if there is only one processor in the system.
  • Perform a processor reset if there are multiple processors in the system.
• Downloading Data Files - If your debug session requires a data file, use this option to specify the file to download and the address location.

Remote Debug

If the hardware board is connected to a remote machine, such as a lab machine, SDK provides a way to debug the program on the remote hardware board. You should, however, have XMD running on this remote machine with a TCP interface for communication. This is done by launching XMD with the -ipcport command line option. You can use this tab to specify the XMD TCP interface to communicate.

Note: You cannot run or profile a program on the remote hardware board.

Profiler

SDK provides capability to profile your software application. Use the Profiler tab to specify options for the profiler. Refer to the Profile section for more information.

Debug overview
Run overview
Profile overview

Debugging
Running
Profiling

Run and Debug dialog box
Debug views

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